South Bend family makes it home for Christmas after immigration setback

December 30, 2008|By PABLO ROS Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND Â? As far as immigration stories go, this one has a happy ending.

Despite coming home for the holidays a week late after she was denied entry into the States, Myriam Baldizon Nicodemus and her family made it home to South Bend for Christmas.

Baldizon, her husband, Staff Sgt. Kenneth Nicodemus, and their 6-year-old son, Ethan, showed up at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, on Dec. 17 to fly to Chicago. The family had been living on a U.S. military base in Bamberg, Germany, where Kenneth was stationed for four years and deployed to both Afghanistan and Iraq.

So when U.S. authorities in Frankfurt told Baldizon that she could not enter the States because she lacked the proper immigration documents, she was perplexed and furious.

Baldizon, 26, a Guatemalan citizen, said she first moved to the States as a child with her family, which was given political asylum in 1996. Later, she said, she applied for permanent residency and was supposed to have received her "green card" in the summer of 2007.

But she never received it, and calls she said she made to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services were never answered by an actual person.

Baldizon and her husband married in 2003. In August, she said, her husband petitioned for her to receive an immigrant visa, which she was told would take 90 days, but again she never heard back from USCIS.

So instead of flying home that day, the Nicodemuses were stuck in Germany. Having shipped all their belongings to their new home in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., they checked into a hotel.

Back home, a family member reached out to the office of Congressman Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., which was in touch with the U.S. consulate in Frankfurt to offer assistance.

The Tribune ran a story about the familyÂ?s plight on Dec. 20.

Baldizon still wonders whether she and her family would be here were it not for those who intervened.

A spokeswoman for USCIS said she could not comment on the specifics of the case, including why Baldizon had been denied entry in the first place, but said the agency had moved quickly to bring the family back home.

"When it involves someone in the military or a spouse, weÂ?ll do anything we possibly can, whether the proper paperwork was filed or not," Marilu Cabrera said. "The military is our priority."

Baldizon said she received a call from the Frankfurt consulate on Dec. 22 with an offer of a travel document letter, which explained her affiliation to the military and granted her permission to come into the country.

Baldizon said she felt both grateful and resentful.

"Why was this so hard?" she remembers thinking. "Why couldnÂ?t you do this a week ago or a month ago?"

But even though the Nicodemuses are back home, BaldizonÂ?s journey through the often long and complicated process of gaining permanent residency has just begun.

Baldizon said once she and her family move into their new home in Missouri, she will have to file again for permanent residency, something she is not looking forward to.